


Truth

by thewoodwork



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Gryffindor Harry, Happy Ending, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slytherin Louis
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-05
Updated: 2014-12-19
Packaged: 2018-02-28 05:41:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2720816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewoodwork/pseuds/thewoodwork
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rivals to the public eye, Harry and Louis are forced into a closeted friendship as the wizarding world crashes around them. Set during the rise of Voldemort during the First Wizarding War.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

Louis groaned, placing his pounding head in his hands. His temples were pulsating, sending shooting pain down to his neck and to the bottom of his spine. He gripped at the strands of his hair and dug his fingers into them, the motion soothing and a welcome relief from the pain he was feeling throughout his body. He was sitting on the ground in the darkest corner of the castle that he could find on short notice, and despite his best efforts these walls were starting to become very familiar to him.

In this area of the castle he was finally well away from the students who had been yelling at him only moments before. Their yelling was still echoing through his head.

Taking his wand out, Louis cast a basic healing charm on his arm. The abrasions started to mend before his eyes, the skin stitching itself back together as he worked. He made his way to all of the cuts that he’d accumulated from the fight, most of them being on his shoulders and forearms today. Once he was done, Louis shifted to grab his shoulder bag that was laying a few feet away. He dug through his bag, and groaned when he was unable to find what he was looking for. With one last effort he shifted some books out of the way and smiled when he saw it.

The salve was aptly named: Madam Daisy’s Magical Salve: Healing and Pain Relief for your Daily Troubles. The label was starting to wear thin, the jar being used so regularly at this point, but Louis paid that no mind as he twisted the lid open and dove his hands into the gooey liquid.

The substance was uncomfortably cold but Louis still brought it up towards his neck and chest. The salve would heal all of the bruises that lay there, numbing most of the pain as it went. Louis flinched at the cold as he applied it liberally onto all of his more superficial wounds. This salve wouldn’t be able to heal any major cuts that he had but it did its job with minor scrapes and bruises. He moved to rub some onto his back when his shoulder twanged in protest.

“Ah, fuck.” Louis cursed, rolling his shoulder. He rubbed it a few times in irritation, wondering how he’d managed to get injured again.

Maybe it was from when he had to dive out of the way from Carter’s stray spell. Maybe it was from when Louis purposefully knocked his shoulder into a fellow Slytherin to protect the person the spell was aimed at.

Once he had finished the majority of his healing Louis’ stomach rolled, the familiar tightening of anxiety settling in once again. The fight usually kept him distracted long enough that he could concentrate on simultaneously putting on a show and keeping himself from harm, once it was over, however, the anxiety came rushing back.

He never asked for this, he didn’t want to be put on display and used as cathartic relief and he sure as shit knew that the green eyes staring back at him from down the hall didn’t want it either. Neither of them could do anything about it though as the tensions within the school grew with every list of dead brought in with the morning post.

The world was a mess of who was following the Dark Lord and who wasn’t, everyone being forced to take sides or risk death. Louis’ own family was forced into hiding over this past year, leaving him to fend off any Death Eaters trying to convert soon to be graduating Hogwarts students. He was relatively safe at Hogwarts were he dutifully avoided any questions about his allegiance and let the students assume what they wanted about him.

These assumptions offered him protection from his fellow Slytherins but hatred from the Gryffindors. All the Gryffindors at the school were against you-know-who and were therefore at war with their rival house. The majority of the Slytherins were planning on joining the Dark Lord once they’d graduated and talked about it openly amongst each other. Louis was not one of these Slytherins.

And so the houses of Hogwarts had been at war for the past few years as the frequency of the morning post being followed by a list of dead had greatly increased. A list that he checked desperately for the names of his family members every day.

Louis was in his final year of school now and almost out of this war only to be joining another. The war within the school had been going on for several years at this point, with fights between the students breaking out on a regular basis. Everyone had someone to take their aggressions out on. If it wasn’t for the fact that the fights Louis’ endured seemed to sedate the crowd then he would have put a stop to them a long time ago.

Louis couldn’t figure out why the older students had picked himself and his petty school rivalry with a Gryffindor to be the main focus of the school fights but they had – and so with every list of dead brought in there was yelling and chanting and no choice but to stare at the green eyes he knew so well by this point as they hurled spells down the hallways at each other, both praying to Merlin that they’d miss.

Louis winced, pulling himself out of his thoughts and up onto a shadowed windowsill to wait for familiar green eyes to come find him.

**_Two Years Before_ **

“Shit.” Harry cursed, his entire world shifting to the left. He was shoulder first into a wall before he could do anything about it. His shoulder took the brunt of the hit, leaving him to grip his aching shoulder as he slid down the wall and onto his ass.

He was glad to be alone in the hallway right now, the crowd having broken up already. He didn’t want everyone to know that the brave, charismatic, and strong Gryffindor that everyone looked up to was actually crying. Harry wiped away the tears with the sleeve of his robe.

He’d been hit with a confundus charm gone sideways earlier. It hadn’t been Tomlinson who’d fired the spell that finished the fight today. Tomlinson had even looked worried when Harry had come to, clutching his head while there was yelling all around him, his housemates coming to his defense.

Harry couldn’t be sure though, because Tomlinson didn’t seem like he was in anyway like the other Slytherins. Sure, he held the same cocky confidence that the others did but Harry had also seen a softness to him that others seemed to miss. Harry noticed that the boy searched the mail every day and lit up when he seemed to find what he was looking for. Harry also noticed that Tomlinson searched the list of dead every day with more concern than any of his housemates did.

Harry knew that there was something more there, he was positive. He’d never once sent a spell towards Harry that could actually do any permanent damage despite what his housemates wanted. The most basic of healing spells were all that Harry ever needed at the end of the day.

When Harry realized that Tomlinson was actually a lot more considerate than he first thought, Harry started doing the same things in return. His spells started missing more, and the ones that did hit held less malice than they once did. He wasn’t sure if Tomlinson noticed the change or not but no one else seemed to.

Thank Merlin for that.

“Are you okay?”

Harry broke out of his own thoughts with a start, his head whipping to the side to see a dark figure a few feet away. He squinted his eyes, trying to see who it was but was unable to make it out. Something seemed familiar though as the figure shifted and brought a wand out.

“Lumos.” Came the whisper, and the hall was suddenly filled with enough light to see.

“Tomlinson.”

“Louis, please.” The Slytherin looked pained, shifting on his feet. “Are you okay?” He repeated.

Harry didn’t respond at first, taking his time to consider the situation. There was every reason not to trust Louis if Harry was being honest with himself. Harry could have been projecting everything he thought about Louis and he really could be as nasty as all of his Gryffindor housemates insisted.

Harry trusted his gut, as he usually did.

“Not really.” Harry gestured to his shoulder.

“Shit.” Louis cursed, dropping to his knees in front of Harry. “How the hell did you do that?” He demanded, “I didn’t do that to you, did I? I don’t remember doing that to you”

“No…” Harry grimaced, “I did this one all by myself unfortunately.”

“Idiot.” Louis sighed, shaking his head. Louis tentatively reached out to touch Harry’s shoulder, fingers just barely grazing it. “Does it hurt when you move it?”

“Yes.” Harry said through tight lips, grunting in pain when Louis’ hand finally touched him.

“Merlin,” Louis sighed, “What the bloody hell did you do to it?”

“I…fell against the wall?”

Louis laughed in surprise, hand coming up to cover his smile. “Did you really? This wall?”

“Don’t laugh at me,” Harry pouted.

“Sorry, Love.” Louis smiled, “I’ll help you with this.”

The endearing term seemed to slip out on its own and so Harry decided not to comment on it despite how much he wanted to. “Hurry up then, haven’t all day.”

Louis rolled his eyes good naturedly, bringing his hands up to investigate the injury. “Be honest,” Louis said, “How much does it hurt?” His hands were surprisingly gentle around Harry’s shoulder.

“It doesn’t feel like I’ve broken anything,” Harry admitted, “But I can barely move it.”

Louis tsked, “I think you may have just bruised it,”

“No way,” Harry pouted. “It hurts loads.”

“I’m sure it does,” Louis muttered, “but you’ll be fine.” Louis turned to grab something out of the bag that was hanging over his own shoulder, he shuffled with it for a while before coming up with a jar in his hand.

“This salve is a life saver,” Louis explained, opening the jar as he talked. “I use it all the time, it’ll both take away the pain and heal any damaged tissue you may have.”

“Magic.”

Louis rolled his eyes, “Not quite. Now let’s get you out of that robe so I have something to work with.”

Harry moved slowly, letting Louis help him as they worked his throbbing shoulder out of the robe. Harry ended up peeling the entire thing off and shoving it under his butt as best he could from his position on the ground.

Louis shot him a strange look and Harry just shrugged. “This not the most comfortable ground to sit on, Louis.”

Louis shook his head and once again Harry was left wondering if the fondness that crossed Louis’ face was just his imagination or not.

“Okay, let’s go then.” Louis said, gently getting Harry to his feet. Louis bent down to pick up Harry’s robe and then Harry’s book bag before leading Harry down the hallway.

“Where are we going,” Harry asked, turning to look at Louis who was guiding him with a hand at the small of his back.

Louis shrugged, “Somewhere more comfortable for the prince.”

Harry barked out a laugh, letting Louis guide him through the corridors by wand light. “Prince Harry Styles. I quite like that.”

“You would,” Came the snort from behind him. “What kind of name is Harry Styles anyway? That’s definitely the kind of name you’d hear on the wizarding radio. Not a boring old school kid.

“Heeyy…” Harry protested, “That’s not very nice.

Louis shrugged, “Deal with it, Curly.”

Harry was about to respond when Louis pushed him into an empty classroom to their left. “Let’s get you healed now,” he gestured to one of the tables that had nothing on it, patting it’s top as he found a place to put their book bags.

Harry sat down the table as he waited for Louis. “You can call me Harry.” He said, breaking the silence.

Louis didn’t respond, leaving to go light some of the candles that were lining the walls and returned only once they were all lit.

Louis came up to him. “Okay, Curly. Let’s see how much damage you really did.”

Harry watched as Louis once again took out the salve that he’d been about to use earlier.

“Get this sweater off, Curly.” Harry does, lifting the sweater up and over and unbuttoning the shirt under without much thought.

It took some time but eventually Harry had both his shirt and tie off and sitting on the desk next to him.

“Look at that, looks like your shoulder barely even hurts anymore. Guess you won’t be needing any of this,” Louis teased, shaking his head in mock disappointment.

Harry pouted, making grabby hands towards the salve. “No, I still hurt. Gimme.”

Scoffing, Louis smacked Harry lightly across the head. “I’m sure,”

Still, Louis unscrewed the lid and got to work, rubbing the salve over Harry’s shoulder gently. He worked the gooey liquid into Harry’s muscles, mindful of when Harry winced in pain.

“I…” Louis broke into the silence.

“Hmm?”

“I’m sorry.” Louis admission was very quiet, the boy refused to even look up from where he was rubbing at Harry’s shoulder. The sudden quiet was not what Harry was used to, having seen Louis’ loud self around the school over the past few years.

“It’s okay.” Harry insisted.

Louis shook his head and bit his lip. “No, it’s not.”

Harry took a deep breath, “We do what we have to,” Harry said slowly, thinking over his words. “If we didn’t then who knows what the rest of the school would do. More people would be injured for little reason.”

Louis looked up at Harry for the first time in a while and met his eyes, his lip was raw from where he was biting it. “You get injured. I get injured. Why is that fair?”

Harry shrugged.

“It _isn’t_ fair, Harry.” His heart raced at the use of his name. Louis hadn’t said it until now. “It’s never _been_ fair and yet we still have to pretend to hate each other every time the school decides that it wants us to fight, as if things aren’t bad enough. I don’t _want_ to fight you, Curly. Maybe I did the first time but I haven’t since that time I saw you save that damned kitten from falling out of that tree”

Harry blinked, recalling the day. “I don’t remember seeing you…”

Louis looked down again, “Who do they think they are?” Louis demanded. “Telling us that we’re supposed to hate each other? Who could hate you? You’re the biggest softie there is.”

“Uhm…”

“It’s fucking ridiculous.” Louis cursed, “Just because I’m Slytherin and you’re Gryffindor we have to hate each other on sight.”

“I don’t hate you.” Harry blurted out.

“I know!” Louis burst. “I know you don’t hate me and I definitely don’t hate you which is why all of this is fucking bullshit.”

Harry brought up his hands to placate Louis, hesitating before placing both of his hands on Louis’ shoulders and rubbed them in an attempt to calm the Slytherin boy down.

It seemed to work because Louis deflated and fell into Harry’s chest, his forehead resting on Harry’s collarbone.

Harry responded by rubbing Louis’ back, letting the boy get his frustrations out.

“Sorry…” Louis said suddenly, backing away from Harry. “That was inappropriate of me.”

Harry frowned, seeing Louis close himself off all of a sudden.

“Why can’t we be friends then?” Harry asked, trying to get past the guarded look that had crossed over Louis’ face all of a sudden.

“What?” The mask cracked a little, emotion bleeding through.

“Friends, Lou.” Harry frowned. “Like normal people.”

“I know what you said,” Louis sighed, rolling his eyes. “I’d love to be friends, Harry. I just don’t think the school would respond very well to that. Not after what’s happening outside of the school.”

“Then we can be friends without letting anyone know, what they don’t know can’t hurt them.”

Louis’ lips pursed in thought. “Getting ahead of yourself there, Haz.” Louis said, crossing his arms over his chest. “How do you know we actually won’t hate each other once we get to know each other?”

“Well…” Harry dragged out the word longer than necessary, “We don’t hate each other yet do we?”

“Guess not,” Louis scoffed rolling his eyes, still defensive after having let his guard down.

“Then let’s get to know each other.” Harry said, rubbing lightly at his healing shoulder. “Can’t hurt.”

Louis’ foot tapped on the ground nervously, his arms slowly lowering from where they’d been crossed across his chest. “Okay, fine.” He bit out, “Let’s get to know each other Harry.”

Harry smiled, wondering if Louis was always this defensive with the people he met. “What made you decide to help me today?”

Louis looks like he’s been struck, eyes averting sharply to the left to avoid Harry’s gaze.

“Why do I have to have a reason?”

“You’ve never explicitly helped me before,” Harry shrugged, “Something had to have changed.”

“Nothing did,” Louis said, “Nothing…changed.”

“Then why?” Harry prodded, “Why help me today?”

“I don’t know!” Louis snapped, his arms up in exasperation. “I couldn’t just leave you pathetic on the ground.”

“You have before.”

Louis shook his head in protest. “That’s not true.”

“I’m no more injured today than I am any other day.”

Louis shifted uncomfortably. “I came back because I left my bag,” Louis paused, “…and when I just saw you there you looked so pathetic. I couldn’t just walk away.”

Harry nodded, patting the space next to him in invitation.

Louis eyed the spot and shook his head. “I need to get going.”

“Why?”

Another shake of the head and more uncomfortable shifting. “It’s Saturday, Louis. Unless you have a Quidditch practice or detention I didn’t know about you should be okay to miss anything else.”

Louis sighed, walking towards the desk to sit next to Harry. He sat down, careful to keep his distance.

“So…come here often?” Harry wiggled his eyebrows.

Louis barked out a laugh, his shoulders significantly less tense than before.

“Oh yeah, loads.”

Harry shifted, brushing his shoulder against Louis’, careful not to go any further in case he scared Louis away again.

“So…” Harry said, “Tell me about yourself, Louis.”

Louis rolled his eyes, tilting his head back to stare at the ceiling. “I play on the Quidditch team as a chaser, which you already knew apparently.” Louis’ eyes slid over to Harry. “I have a big family, loads of sisters. I suck at potions but I’m amazing at History of Magic – the most useless subject of them all. I’m in denial that OWLs are coming up at the end of the year…

“I never actually wanted to hurt you… when we first started fighting.”

“Really?” Harry asked in surprise.

“Really…” Louis nodded, “I’ve always made sure that my spells either missed or didn’t hurt you too bad. You look absolutely pathetic when you’re in pain.”

“Hey…”

“I’m not a follower of…you-know-who.” Louis said quietly, startling Harry. “Never have been, none of my family is.”

“That’s…” Harry gapes. “That’s amazing. Does anyone in your house know?”

“No…” Louis shook his head, “I don’t think I’d survive if they knew.”

“Does everyone follow…him?”

“Most do…” Louis admitted. “Some don’t but those are mostly the younger years and they’re excused for now.”

“That’s…”

Louis shook his head again, “Don’t Harry.”

Harry closed his mouth tight before he burst with what he really wanted to say. “That’s really brave of you, Louis.”

“No it’s not.” Louis said, “It’s _cowardly_. I could never tell any of them that I don’t follow him. I’m not _brave_ enough to do that.”

“I’m sure Dumbledore would protect you.” Harry said, watching as Louis looked down at Harry’s swinging feet.

“Doesn’t matter.”

“Yes it does! If that’s not what you believe then you shouldn’t have to pretend it is!”

“Don’t be so childish, Harry.” Louis snapped. “I’m protecting my family.”

Harry recoiled, feeling admonished.

Louis sighed, “Sorry…I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

“It’s fine, Louis.” Harry said.

“No, it’s not.” Louis groaned, sliding a hand into his hair to grip at the soft locks there. “I’m just so worried about all of them.”

Harry shifted himself closer to Louis, hesitantly bringing his arm around Louis to wrap him in an awkward one armed side hug. “I get it… your family comes first.”

Louis nodded, “Thank you for understanding.”

“Anytime,” Harry whispered, holding Louis against his side.

Louis turned his head, bringing the two of them surprisingly closer than before. Harry’s breath hitched as Louis didn’t move away. He was about to give into what he’d been feeling for the entire time they’d been sitting together, to close the gap between them when there was a crash behind them that had both of them scrambling away from each other, cursing as they went.

“What the hell was that?” Louis asked, breathing heavily. He was clutching at a desk a few feet away from Harry, his wand raised in defense.

Harry shook his head, unable to see anything. It was when he heard a familiar meow that he suddenly knew. “Oh Merlin, it’s my cat.”

Louis sudden laugh startled Harry and he turned to see Louis bending down to pick the orange cat up. “Seriously, the same kitten I saw you rescue out of the tree?”

Harry blushed, “Well I couldn’t just leave the poor thing!”

Louis was still laughing, whatever had passed over the two of them passing as he pet the cat with his free hand. “Only you, Harry.” He said, smiling softly at Harry.

Harry felt warmth surge through his body and he smiled back, wondering if Louis knew just how much Harry was already enamored with him.

-

They were sitting in the same classroom as before, sitting in the same spot as before, and doing the exact same thing they were doing the first time they properly met.

Louis was standing between Harry’s knees with one hand braced on Harry’s thigh while the other one worked at healing a cut on Harry’s forehead.

“Did you know that your healing causes me to have tingly feelings all over?” Harry asked.

“What?” Louis said in surprise, “Did you hit your head today, Harry?”

“No.”

“Then would you kindly explain, Curly?” Louis asked, while moving onto the other cuts that were on Harry’s body.

“Your healing leaves a tingling sensation on my skin,” Harry explains, smiling as he felt it happen again. “I’ve never had Niall’s healing leave that feeling before. It’s nice.”

“Niall heals you usually? Isn’t that one of the Hufflepuff’s in our year?”

Harry nodded, “He’s been healing me for a while now. Isn’t too happy that I’ve started running off after fights instead of coming to find him.”

Louis froze, his hand stopping from where it had been brushing across Harry’s bruises. “Shouldn’t you tell him where you are then?”

“No…” Harry said, shaking his head. “He doesn’t need to know.”

“Alright then,” Louis shrugged.

A comfortable silence then washed over them as Louis got back to work, wiping away any excess blood from Harry’s wounds.

“Where’d you learn to heal anyway?” Harry asked, his eyes closed and his head tilted towards the ceiling.

“Because of this actually,” Louis admitted. “I didn’t want to explain to Madam Pomfrey why I was coming up to the Hospital Wing so often covered in cuts and bruises.”

“She doesn’t ask questions usually.”

“Yeah well… It was still embarrassing.”

Harry hummed, getting lost in the feeling that Louis’ healing was leaving behind.

“Won’t Niall be looking for you now?”

“Hmm…probably.”

“You’re not too concerned about that?”

“He knows I’m okay.”

“Does he though?”

Harry shrugged, “As long as I’m okay next time I see him he won’t ask questions.”

Louis sighed, “He probably wouldn’t be too happy to see you here with me.”

“Once he knew that I trusted you he’d be okay.”

Louis shook his head, a dark look crossing over his face. “I don’t know why you do, Haz. I don’t deserve it.”

“Yes you do.” Harry insisted, brushing some stray strands of hair out of Louis’ eyes. “You’re the most kind Slytherin I’ve ever met.”

“Yeah well…” Louis shifted uncomfortably on his feet. “We can’t all be that bad.”

The rest of their evening ended up being just the two of them sprawled out on the ground, exchanging stories about family, friends, embarrassing moments and everything in between. Silences never lasted long and it ended up being the most fun Harry had had in a long, long time.

-

Harry shook his hair out, adjusting the bag on his shoulder as he walked down to the dungeons. Ever since his first meeting with Louis, Harry wondered what Louis was up to whenever he passed through the dungeons. The Slytherin common room was somewhere down in these dark corridors and somewhere within them Louis was doing homework or talking with friends or pranking a teacher. Harry thought about these things more than he’d like to admit.

Harry was about to turn down the hallway that lead to the potions class when Niall caught up to him.

Harry!”

Harry turned his head to greet his friend with a smile. “Hey, Niall.”

“You good?” He asked, obviously scanning Harry’s body for injuries.

Harry shifted, knowing that Niall wouldn’t be finding any anytime soon. “I’m good, Niall.”

“Hmm…” Niall’s eyes narrowed slightly before breaking out into a grin. “Okay, if you say so. Did you do the homework for today? I forgot.”

“You always forget.”

“Yeah well, can I copy?”

Harry rolled his eyes, walking into the class without much thought. He turned to keep talking to Niall when suddenly he walked into a warm body that shouldn’t feel as familiar as it does.

“Shit,” Is all Harry heard before the person is scrambling away. Louis.

They stared at each other with their mouths hanging open for a few moments before Louis blushed and moved past Harry and out of the classroom without a word.

Harry didn’t say anything as a Slytherin girl rushed past, trying to get Louis to slow down.

Niall came up behind Harry and placed a hand on his shoulder. “That was a bit strange, wasn’t it?”

Harry shook his head and didn’t respond.

He and Louis had become fast friends outside of the public eye. They’d see each other on the weekends that were free from Quidditch practice and other commitments. They’d also see each other following every fight that they were forced to have. Those meetings always ended up being a lot more somber than the others.

To the rest of the school thought they were enemies though, leaving Harry and Louis to pretend that this was still true whenever they saw each other throughout the castle. It happened more often than either of them liked, both of them frustrated over just how small the castle really was in the end.

Harry was saved from being forced to respond to Niall by Professor Slughorn walking into the room.

“Yes, yes, settle down now.” Slughorn said from the front of the room, “I’m sure you’re all bursting with excitement.”

Harry exchanged a confused look with Niall.

“As I’m sure many of you are aware from the fast rate of gossip in this school,” Slughorn grinned, rubbing his belly. “I’m having Christmas party this year for the Slug Club. Those of you who are lucky enough to be a part of my honorable club can invite dates if you’d like. I may even let someone new come to the party if you impress me in class today.”

His laugh grated on Harry who was left wondering who on earth would want to go to that _thing_ in the first place. It was always an overdone affair with people Professor Slughorn declared of importance. The nights were always long and incredibly boring. Harry idly wondered if Louis would be going as Louis was a member as well. Though Harry had noticed that he hadn’t been to the last few meetings.

Class moved forward after the professor’s announcement, a slight buzz going through the class. A few of the students that were there today were members of the Slug Club, himself included. He’d caught Professor Slughorn’s eye earlier this year when Harry’s natural skill at potions came under scrutiny.

“You going, mate?” Niall asked, starting to work on the potion that was written up on the chalk board.

“I don’t know…” Harry said, “Maybe.”

Harry was starting to put his empty cauldron on the fire when Slughorn’s booming voice came up from behind him.

“Harry!” He jumped in surprise and turned to see Slughorn grinning at him. “I expect you to be there, boy. Bring a date!”

Harry nodded weakly, smiling back at Slughorn before getting up to grab some of the ingredients he and Niall would be needing.

He had no one that he wanted to bring aside from maybe Louis but he was positive that Louis would probably end up taking that Slytherin girl that usually followed him around to those sort of events.

-

“Louis!” Eleanor’s voice came up from behind him as he gathered his books and empty potions cauldron. Today’s potion had been yet another failed attempt at a potion and at this rate he’d be failing the class. He should really consider Harry’s offer on helping him, he was an absolute lost cause in potions.

“Yeah?” Louis turned on his heel to see Eleanor smiling at him.

“Do you want to go to Slughorn’s party together?” She asked, playing with her hair as she did. Louis idly wondered if she was nervous asking him still, despite going to these parties together for about a year now. He didn’t exactly enjoy taking her, but she wasn’t awful company either. Sometimes it was better than going to them alone. To be honest, he’d actually rather be spending the night with Harry. He’d gotten quite used to spending time with the Gryffindor instead of his own housemates.

As long as Eleanor didn’t start asking him out on _dates_ he’d be fine though he had a feeling that they were what she considered those nights to be. He more often than not just avoided her on trips down to Hogsmeade or didn’t go in the first place. He was positive that on more than one occasion she’d been expecting a romantic day at Hogsmeade and he’d failed to deliver.

He tried to move out of the classroom quickly, Professor Slughorn having kept him around longer after class to correct him on his potion making and then Eleanor keeping him behind even later. If he waited any longer he’d probably be late for his next class.

He heard a very familiar voice just then, causing him to freeze himself in spot just in time for the person with said voice to walk right into him.

“Shit.” Louis cursed, scrambling backwards towards a respectable distance. _Fucking buggering fuck_ Louis thought as he realized who it was. Harry.

Louis was stood frozen in spot, his mouth agape, as the green eyed boy stared back just as in shock.

Louis felt himself flush all over and spared who he assumed was Niall a quick glace before all but running past Harry and down the hallway.

“Louis!” Eleanor called out behind him but Louis didn’t bother slowing down for her to catch up. His next class wasn’t with her anyway so he figured he’d be safe for a while.

-

The next few weeks passed very slowly for Louis who hated any sort of tedium with a passion. He and Harry continued to meet every once and a while, their meetings gradually becoming more and more regular as the holidays approached.

Louis didn’t have much time to think about the Slug Club party or Harry for that matter as studying became more and more pressing with tests coming up alarmingly quick. He spent a lot of time in the library simply trying to distract himself from thinking about Harry.

He was in the library on a very rainy Saturday evening when he heard someone approach his table. The person sat down in the chair opposite him and shifted around uncomfortably.

Louis didn’t look up from his books right away, assuming it was Eleanor, but was frozen in shock when he saw who it really was.

“Harry!” Louis hissed, jerking backwards to see who was in the library that might see.

“We’re pretty much alone in here, Lou.” Harry smiled. “It’s late and most students are in bed.”

Louis looked at the time, surprised to see that it was almost midnight. “Wow… didn’t realize I’d been studying that long.”

“Unlike you to be studying.”

“Hey!” Louis smacked Harry with the side of his hand. “I do have _some_ self-preservation.”

“I was beginning to wonder.”

Louis shook his head and dropped his quill. “I can’t wait for these damn tests to be over.”

Harry nodded, keeping an eye on the front of the library. “Me too,”

Louis picked up the dropped quill again and began playing with it in his hands nervously. “You going to that dinner for the Slug Club?” He finally asked, trying to be as nonchalant about it as possible.

“Unfortunately, don’t think I can get away with not going.”

“Why’s that?”

“He asked me himself to go, said to bring a date or somethin’.”

“Are you?”

“What?”                       

“Are you bringing a date?” Louis asked, twirling the quill in his nervous hands.

“No, no one to take really. What about you?”

“Eleanor I guess,” Louis admitted. “Not a huge fan of the idea but she asked nicely so…”

“I see…”

Desperate to break the awkwardness, Louis asked, “How’s your family doing? Are you going home for the holidays?”

Harry smiled, “I am, yeah. My mom asked me just the other day.”

“That’ll be nice,” Louis said, bringing his twitching leg up to rest on Harry’s lap.

Harry nodded, “Yeah, should be. What about you?”

“I’m staying,” Louis said, looking away. “My family is trying to keep mostly hidden right now.”

Harry startled, looking back at Louis in concern.

“They’re fine, they’re fine!” Louis waved his hands, trying to placate Harry. “Jus’ want to be careful an’ all.”

“Are they in danger?”

“Maybe… probably.” Louis admitted, chewing at his lip. “I’d rather not bring attention to them any more than I have to. They haven’t outright denied the dark…you-know-who but they haven’t supported him either and that doesn’t really place them in the good books.”

Harry nodded in understanding. “Must be hard, being a Slytherin who doesn’t support him.”

They’ve discussed this before so Louis’ doesn’t go into it, simply nodding as he picked lint off his robe.

“Maybe I should stay with you,”

“No!”  Louis looked up in alarm. “Don’t do that, you need to go visit your family.”

“You could come with me?”

Louis shook his head, “I’ll be quite fine, Hazza.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah…” He’d be a bit lonely, that was for sure, but he couldn’t go visit Harry’s family with him. There was permanence in that which went beyond the friendship they’d developed currently. He couldn’t be sure that he didn’t give into his urges and just kiss Harry if he was truly alone with him in a safe space.

-

Harry and Louis spent the next few days together studying in a classroom that they claimed as their own. They brought their books and they brought warm drinks and ended up sitting by the fire in comfortable silence as each of them studied for different classes.

While Louis was stuck pouring over his potions book, Harry breezed through it but quickly became stuck on History of Magic – something Louis had always been good at.

“I don’t bloody understand potions,” Louis frowned, throwing his book down in front of him.

“It’s really simple, Lou. You just need to follow the instructions.” Harry said, not looking up from his own studying.

“Easy for you to say, Haz. The instructions aren’t clear enough and I can never remember them.”

“You’ll do fine,” Harry said, reaching out to rub Louis’ shoulder briefly before returning to his book.

Louis scoffed and picked up another one of his subjects, hoping for a better time. He wasn’t bad at school work per say, but he didn’t exactly enjoy doing it either.

Though he had to admit that Harry helped with his concentration a lot. Which Louis also found unusual seeing as Harry was the most distracting person Louis had ever met – and yet being with Harry calmed Louis right down. Enough to study at least.

Without thinking, Louis reached for Harry’s drink to have a taste. His own drink had run out some time ago but Harry was usually slower at finishing than Louis – not this time though as Louis was left pouting into an empty cup.

“Aww man,”

“Am I out?” Harry asked innocently, batting his eyelashes.

“Yes you twat, you finished it.”

“Funny that.”

Louis jumped to his feet, dragging Harry to his feet as well. “Kitchen break.” Louis said, pushing Harry out of the classroom.

Harry went along willingly, a slight bounce to his step. “Is the potions getting any easier?”

Louis rolled his eyes, “No.”

“Need help?”

“No…”

Harry laughed, brows raising. “Really?”

His eyes narrowed, “Yes. Now move it, I want more tea.”

Harry mock saluted him, leading the way to the secret entrance to the kitchens.

“How’d you find this place anyway?” Louis asked.

“Niall,” Harry laughed. “Apparently all of the Hufflepuff’s are aware of the entrance.”

Louis rolled his eyes, “Of course they are.”

They made their way into the small corridor that would lead them to the kitchens and were greeted with suspiciously happy to see them house elves. It always creepy Louis out a little. “Mr. Styles, Mr. Tomlinson!” One of them greeted, “What can we get for you?”

“Hey, Tilly.” Harry smiled, bending down to get to eye level. “Could we get some tea?”

“Of course!” The house elf smiled, “Anything else?”

“Lou?” Harry turned expectant eyes towards him.

Louis shifted on his feet a few moments before responding, “Just any snacks you have laying around would be fine, Thanks Tilly.”

The house elf smiled at him, overjoyed at the unexpected kindness coming from a Slytherin despite Louis being kind to her several times before. “Of course, Mr. Tomlinson! Right away.” And the house elf was off to go get them what they’d asked for.

Harry stood back up, straightening his back with a groan. “It’s a good thing we got up to move around, I don’t think my back could take much more sitting on that ground.”

“Isn’t your butt and back used to it by now?” Louis asked offhandedly as he accepted the mug of tea.

“Apparently not.” Harry nudged his shoulder into Louis’, almost knocking Louis over with the unexpected force.

“Oi! No spilling my tea.”

Harry just ruffled Louis hair, accepting his own tea from Tilly as they waited for their snacks to arrive.

“How late is it anyway?” Louis asked, taking a sip. “Should we be heading back to our common rooms?”

“No!” Harry said, surprising himself and Louis with the quick response.

Harry blushed, thinning his lips slightly. “Couldn’t hurt to study a bit longer, no?”

“Okay,” Louis said, unsure of how to respond. “Maybe you could help me a bit with that potions after all...”

Harry’s pleased laughter haunted him for the rest of the evening.

-

It was a day before his potions exam and Louis was having a panic attack. A _minor_ panic attack he’d insist if anyone asked but it was a panic attack none the less.

“Lou, are you okay?” Eleanor asked, watching him as he paced around the room.

“I’m _fine._ ” He snapped, feeling as if the room was closing in on him. There were too many people in this damned common room and too many things to study and not enough time to study them. Louis hands twitched around his text book, his eyes glazing over as he tried to memorize a recipe to a potion. Harry had told him that there was a good chance that this potion would be on the exam – it also happened to be a potion Louis had never successfully made.

“Louis, you need to calm down.” Eleanor was starting to get annoyed at him, having snapped at him a few times earlier when his panic attack had just started.

“Oh fuck _off,_ Eleanor.” He snapped, slamming the book closed and storming out of the common room. He needed to get out of there, he needed to find Harry.

He went to the library first, checking all of Harry’s favorite studying spots. He wasn’t in the library, he wasn’t in the great hall, and he wasn’t in the kitchens. The only place left that he could actually check was their classroom.

Louis stormed into the classroom in desperation, the potions book hanging limp at his side.

At the sight of Harry sitting with his cat by the fire, book in his hand, everything that Louis was feeling deflated and he let out a relieved whimper.

“Lou?” Harry looked up in surprise. “Are you okay?”

Louis shook his head, storming right over to where Harry was getting to his feet, and walked straight into his arms. The book dropped to the ground, forgotten, as Louis wrapped his arms around Harry’s slightly larger frame and held on tight.

“Lou?”

Louis sighed, feeling the muscles in his back becoming looser and the knot of anxiety that had grown in his stomach unwinding.

“Too much,” Louis said. “Sorry.”

Harry rubbed Louis’ back, murmuring comforting words into his hair. At any other time Louis might have been concerned that he was letting himself get too attached to Harry and his hugs but at the moment Louis couldn’t have cared less.

“What happened?” Harry asked once Louis had calmed down.

“Bit of a panic, no big deal.” Louis insisted, drawing himself away from Harry to pick up Lily who was sitting forgotten on the ground. Louis held the cat in his arms, remembering the day he’d seen Harry find the kitten. It had been raining and the poor thing had practically been hanging from its claws from a tree on the Hogwarts grounds. Harry had stood out in the rain with his arms up, trying to coax the cat down from the tree for an entire hour. He’d finally gotten it down by climbing up the tree himself and rescuing the poor thing. Louis hadn’t intended to be watching that day, but it was hard to ignore when he could see the entire thing happen from where he’d been practicing on the Quidditch pitch alone.

“You okay now?” Harry asked, drawing Louis out of his thoughts.

Louis nodded, hugging the cat close as he bumped hips with Harry. “Yes, thank you, Haz.”

Harry nodded, bumping his hip back in reply. “Want some help with this then?” He asked, picking up the dropped potions book.

“Absolutely,” Louis sighed, “Bloody potions, I can never get it right.”

“You’ll do fine, Lou.” Harry grinned, opening the book to the potion that he’d been studying. “Let’s go over it again.”

-

Louis had walked out of the potions exam feeling that there was a good chance that he’d at least _passed_ and that was enough to leave him giddy for the rest of the afternoon. He hadn’t talked to Eleanor since his outburst but he could tell that she was hurt about it, though not hurt enough to not start preparing for the dinner that was later that night apparently.

The only reason Louis was still going to the dinner at all was because he’d be able to see Harry there without anyone questioning it. He tried not to think too hard about how much that excited him.

He was currently sitting in the common room waiting for Eleanor who’d told him she’d be right down about twenty minutes ago. The dinner was supposed to be starting soon but Louis wasn’t too concerned about being late. There was no one to impress there in his opinion.

“Sorry, sorry I’m late!” Eleanor gasped as she practically ran up from where her dorm room was. “Lost track of time. She looked a little frayed around the edges but Louis simply shrugged and offered his arm to her, not thinking much of it.

“Ready to go then?” Louis asked, fiddling with his robe.

“Yes, let’s go.” Eleanor said, glancing behind her as she dragged Louis out of the door. Louis would have checked to see what she was staring at but they were down the hallway before he had time to catch his breath.

“We’re not that late you know,” Louis griped, trying to slow Eleanor down. She ignored him though, dragging him past loitering students and towards the room Slughorn always had these dinners in.

They arrived just as the evening was supposed to officially start, the room already packed with members of the Slug Club and their respective dates.

Louis’ eyes automatically searched out Harry but he failed to find him. Eleanor tugged on his arm so that they walked further into the room and closer to where their fellow Slytherin members had gathered.

“Trish!” Eleanor said, still slightly haggard and out of breath. “You look lovely-“

Louis turned away from the group, not really listening past initial pleasantries, and grabbed a drink from a passing floating tray. He’d been to dozens of these sorts of parties throughout his life time. His family had once been a well-known and respected family who held these sorts of gatherings themselves. A lot of that had changed once the Dark Lord started gaining power.

“Louis Tomlinson,” Came a voice to his right and Louis turned to see Liam Payne smiling at him.

“Liam.” Louis grunted, taking a sip from his sadly alcohol free drink. Liam was a respected member of the Gryffindor Quidditch team and was never one to get hung up on school rivalries. “How are practices going?”

“Oh they’re good, really good.” Liam smiled, “How about yours?”

“Good, good.” Louis said, slightly distracted by the fact that he couldn’t see the Gryffindor he actually wanted right now. “Practices are the usual…”

Liam smiled encouragingly, keeping the conversation flowing politely as Louis answered back with half-assed answers. It wasn’t that Louis didn’t like the guy, because he did - Liam was one of the nicest Gryffindor’s he knew, more genuine than most if Louis was going to admit it, but at the moment all he wanted to see was Harry. Not that he’d admit that to anyone else.

“Is the dinner going to start soon?” Louis asked, finishing up his drink. They’d been talking back and forth about the Quidditch season for about twenty minutes now with no sign of Slughorn _or_ Harry.

“Oh,” Liam said, looking around the room himself. “I hope so, I’m starving.”

Louis grunted in agreement, eyes shifting back to where Eleanor was completely ignoring him. He wasn’t complaining about the fact, but he did find it a bit strange as she was usually one to hang off his arm most of the evening.

Louis was saved from anymore chatter when Slughorn’s booming voice came from somewhere near the front of the room. “Gather ‘round everyone. Gather round.”

Louis excused himself from Liam and walked towards Eleanor who was still talking with Trish. It would be expected of him to escort her to her seat but before he could even reach her she was walking away with Trish on her arm instead.

Shrugging, Louis made his way to the big table set up for the evening. It was a massive table filled with expensive looking china and filled with drinks and empty spaces where the food would go. There were name tags on each of the plates and he searched for his own for a good five minutes before finding it. Tomlinson was written in gold cursive writing, with a second card to the right with the name Calder on it. Looking to the left seat, Louis’ stomach nearly leapt out of his throat as he saw that the little card had Styles written on it.

Harry. _Fuck._

He hadn’t even seen Harry tonight and now he would have to sit beside him as if there was nothing between them. Pretend as if they hated each other.

Taking a deep breath, Louis took his seat and wondered where Eleanor had gotten off to. She was usually by his side at this point.

He turned in his seat to see where she was and ended up with a face full of someone’s chest instead. He jerked back in surprise and looked up to see Harry staring back down at him, just as surprised.

“Hi.” Harry whispered, stepping politely back. The people around them had silenced, noticing the exchange, but were not quite looking their way.

“Hi,” Louis said, his face heating up. He quickly turned back to his seat and busied himself with his glass of water in an attempt to calm down.

Harry sat quietly next to him, overly cautious as everyone around them was now looking their way.

Louis was saved from any further scrutiny as Eleanor sat primly beside him. “Where have you been?” He asked, he usually wouldn’t care so much but he was desperate for any sort of distraction at this point.

Eleanor rolled her eyes, “Never mind that, Lou. Dinner is about to be served.”

Louis’ mouth parted in surprise but he snapped it shut before he could make any more of a fool of himself. “Fine, whatever.”

The dinner started with an overly long and overdone speech by Slughorn who as always loved to hear himself talk and did nothing but praise the students he deemed important enough to be a part of the Slug Club. Louis almost fell asleep, nearly would have if it wasn’t for the discrete nudge Harry had sent his way.

“…and to the dates here tonight, be happy that your significant other is of such high importance to be invited tonight!” Slughorn laughed, “Enjoy the meal!” With a clap, the meal appeared before every one’s eyes and they were told to dig in.

“Well that was a bit offensive to all the dates,” Harry muttered beside him and Louis couldn’t help but snort in an attempt to hold in his laughter.

“Louis?” Eleanor turned to him in question.

“Nothing, nothing.” Louis coughed, “I’m fine.”

Eleanor didn’t look like she quite believed him but shrugged and returned to her own meal regardless. Breathing a sigh of relief, Louis kicked at Harry’s shin from under the table and was rewarded by Harry dribbling water out of his mouth in surprise.

Smirking in response, Louis dug into dinner and made it a point to poke at and bother Harry as much as possible. He had to entertain himself somehow.  

Harry’s response to this was to poke and bother back just as much, meaning that the two of them probably looked like idiots most of the night who couldn’t socialize like normal people but Louis found that he didn’t care all that much.

The evening was going slower than Louis had hoped. Dinner was followed by more speeches and more drinks and eventually dancing. Eleanor, usually one to jump at the chance to dance, went off with Trish again to talk in hushed whispers as they’d been doing all night.

Unperturbed, Louis spent most of the evening talking with Liam while keeping an eye on Harry as he went from place to place like the social butterfly he was.

Louis didn’t have the energy to socialize like he was brought up to, deciding instead that Liam was a perfectly fine bloke to spend the evening with. Liam was an easy person to talk to, with easy conversations about Quidditch teams filling most of the evening.

“You looking for someone, mate?” Liam asked after one of the too many times Louis had lost Harry in the crowd.

Louis waved his hand in protest, “Nah, it’s all good.”

“You and Eleanor going through a rough patch?”

“What?” Louis asked in surprise, turning to raise a brow at Liam. “Eleanor and I aren’t dating.”

“Oh… no?” Liam said, looking confused. “I thought you were.”

“No…at least I don’t think we are.” Louis laughed, “It would be news to me.”

Liam laughed nervously, obviously a little unsure as how to respond.

Louis parted ways with Liam shortly after that. Louis turned to get something else to drink, knowing that he would have to pee like mad later. He didn’t know what else to do with his hands though, as he stood awkwardly at the edge of the room and waited for the evening to be over.

“Lou.” A whisper came from his right. “Lou!”

“Shhh,” Louis said, pushing further back into the shadows to see Harry smiling at him. “You’re too loud you big oaf.”

Harry shrugged, “You weren’t hearing me.”

Louis rolled his eyes, “We shouldn’t be talking at all.”

Harry pouted, “But Lou, it was only a quick question.”

“Honestly, Haz.”

“Are we meeting up later?”

Louis opened his mouth in surprise. “I… I hadn’t thought about it.” Louis admitted. “Why, do you want to?”

Harry nodded, keeping an eye out for passersby. “Yeah, the usual spot?”

Louis nodded, watching as Harry snuck off into the crowds following Louis’ assent.

It wasn’t too much longer when Eleanor found him, standing awkwardly without a drink in his hands for once. “Louis, I think we need to talk.”

“Okay?” It honestly sounded like she wanted to break up with him – which was a bit ridiculous seeing as they weren’t ever together in the first place. She took his arm and walked him to an even quieter spot in the room and turned to face him with a forlorn expression on her face.

“Louis, I’m seeing someone.”

Louis stared blankly at her. “Okay?”

Eleanor rolled her eyes, “I didn’t want you to get your hopes up or anything about us.” She said. “I know we’ve been sort of going on dates over the past year or so, so I wanted to let you know that I’m now seeing someone.”

“Alright,” Louis shrugged, not too bothered by it. “Who is it?”

“I’m seeing Charlie.” She said, looking a bit dreamy as she said his name if Louis was being honest.

“Good,” Louis said, “Good lad. I’m sure you’ll be happy together.” He smiled and clapped a hand on her shoulder before walking away.

“I’m really sorry, Lou!” She called out as he walked away and he raised a hand in acknowledgement. Honestly, Louis shook his head _, it was as if they had been dating or something_ he thought in disbelief.

Now free from obligation for the evening Louis felt rather lost. He had no idea when Harry was going back to their classroom tonight and he didn’t know what to do with his time.

He was pacing along the edges of the room for another hour or so before he noticed that he could no longer see Harry anywhere in the room. Brows furrowing, Louis turned to leave when he felt a hand wrap around his wrist and drag him further into the shadows. He let out a yelp that was quickly silenced by another hand.

“It’s just me!” Harry said, spinning Louis around that they were facing each other.

Louis yanked Harry’s hand away from his mouth and smacked him upside the head. “You arse, I almost had a heart attack.”

Harry grinned back at him a little lopsided, “Sorry.”

Louis rolled his eyes, fixing Harry’s mused hair so that it was back to its normal messy swoop. 

“Ready to go?”

“Yeah, let’s get out of here.” Harry said, not letting go of Louis’ wrist as he guided them out of the room.

Louis didn’t say a word as the grip Harry had on his wrist slid down so that their fingers were clasped together.

Just as Harry didn’t say a word as Louis’ own fingers tightened around Harry’s as they walked down the deserted corridors.

Neither of them mentioned anything at all as they curled up together by a fire in a classroom that was in the quietest place in the castle with Lily by their side.

Nothing needed to be said after all.


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The format of how this fic was going to go has changed. Instead of 3 distinct parts (longer in length) it is now going to be an unknown amount of chapters. 
> 
> Sorry for the shorter length of this one - Enjoy

**_One Year Later – Sixth Year_ **

Harry took a haggard breath in, trying to find enough air to fill his aching lungs. He briefly wondered if this is what Louis was talking about when he had his own panic attacks. Louis didn’t talk about them much but Harry was around often enough when he started to know what the signs looked like.

Harry’s stomach heaved and he bent over in pain, watching as the meager breakfast that he’d managed to get down this morning was now splattered on the ground.

“Ugh,” Harry groaned, whipping away the slime on his chin with the sleeve of his robe.

Stumbling away from the sick, he reached out for the cool stone wall to his left and gripped at it as best he could. Things had been brutal today, the list of dead that came in with the post had been the longest yet and most students hadn’t even waited until they were out of the teachers view before the fights broke out. It was a mass of students trying to find a way to cope with their grief and that made the whole situation even more upsetting.

Though he hadn’t lost any family or friends to the war yet, the majority of students in his year had. He was starting to get too familiar with the look of anguish that crossed over someone’s face as they read from the list of dead.

Harry spit on the ground, trying to clear his mouth of the acidic taste that was lingering there. He stumbled towards his dropped book bag that was down the hallway a few feet, wondering where Louis had run off to. Louis always tended to take these days worse than Harry did and he was determined to find him before he ran off any further.

The two of them had managed to avoid fighting quite a lot lately, which was something they were both immensely proud of. They’d learned to avoid each other over the past few years, being even more careful than when they’d first met. A lot of things had changed since then.

The other three school houses no longer interacted much at all with the Slytherin’s, most of whom didn’t care either way. Harry had no choice but to watch as Louis became more and more withdrawn as he no longer had anyone to turn to. He didn’t belong in his own house, he wouldn’t be accepted by the rest of the school, and the only person left who knew the real Louis was Harry. The irony of the situation wasn’t lost on them.

The only blessing to the heightened situation was that the fights were no longer exclusively Harry and Louis. More often than not now they were able to not fight each other at all, only deflect spells away and protect themselves from spells that were being aimed towards each other.

“Harry…”

He didn’t turn to look, knowing that it was Niall was on the other end of the hallway. He stumbled again and decided that leaning against the wall was probably a good idea for now. Niall was one of the few people who knew just how much it pained Harry to have to fight. Niall was there to drag him away and heal his wounds when Louis couldn’t.

“Not today, Niall.” Harry said, pushing himself off the wall and onto unsteady feet.

His words were met with silence as he reached his bag at last and bent down as best as he could to pick it up. He let out a gasp of pain and that was what broke Niall’s silence.

“Harry, just let me help today,” Niall said, “Please.”

Harry shook his head, walking away from his friend. “I’m fine, Niall. Go back to the common room.”

“Harry!” Niall called, out his footsteps echoing down the hall as he followed Harry.

“Leave it, Niall.” Harry said, turning to put on a fake smile. “I’m all good.”

Niall didn’t respond, crossing his arms over his chest in a way that reminded Harry of Louis.

“Please, Niall.” Harry said, “Not today.”

“You going to tell me where you go one day?” Niall asked, freezing Harry in place.

Harry turned to meet Niall’s eyes, guilty. “It’s…” Harry paused, trying to find the words. “It’s complicated.”

Niall nodded, “Just let me know soon, okay?”

Harry nodded, relieved.

“You know you can always talk to me.”

Harry flinched, wondering how he had managed to get such a good friend. He didn’t deserve him.“I know, Niall. Thanks, mate.”

“Course.” Niall said, no longer following Harry but still watching him as he made his way down the hallway.

The two boys parted ways, leaving Harry to make his way down darkened corridors and into the more deserted side of the Hogwarts castle. Louis always ended up somewhere down this way and Harry found him eventually, even if it took ages.

Harry was walking towards their classroom when he saw movement, causing him to freeze in place.

 _Just because you see someone in the classroom doesn’t mean it’s me – be_ careful _Harry. Seriously._

Louis had been pestering him for months to be more careful so for once he heeded his friend’s nagging and didn’t call out.

Instead the voice called out for him, “Louis? Are you here?”

Harry walked away from the light from the windows and into the more shadowed area of the hallway, wondering who on earth would be looking for Louis down here.

“Louis?” The feminine voice called again.

Harry cursed silently, drawing out his wand to cast a quick charm that would silence his footsteps. The person down the hall was most likely Eleanor, Harry quickly figured, not knowing of any of Slytherin girls who even talked to Louis. No others that would come looking for him.

Harry was about to get further away from the Slytherin girl when felt something, or more likely _someone,_ move up beside him. He froze in place, his entire body tensing, but before he could react further he felt three light taps on his shoulder.

A relieved breath rushed out of Harry, his muscles relaxing immediately and most of the days stress instantly gone. Harry turned to see Louis standing next to him, finger on his lips to silence Harry.

Harry smiled at Louis but nodded in agreement as he placed his own finger up on his own lips. Over the past year they’d devised safe way to communicate with each other without actually speaking. It was very useful for situations like these or when they were in classrooms where they didn’t dare talk to each other.

Louis had come up with the idea to use simple hand signals that could easily be missed or mistaken for something else. Three taps on the others arm meant ‘It’s me’. Finger to the lips was an obvious ‘shh’. A thumbs up was a mixture of things ranging from ‘I missed you,’ to ‘You all good?’

At this point they had a number of different signals that meant a number of different things but nothing replaced actually being able to talk to each other.

Louis moved his hand from where it was resting on Harry’s shoulder and grabbed onto Harry’s wrist, dragging him away from where Eleanor was and into the relative safety of another empty hallway.

When Harry stumbled for the third time despite the other boys support, Louis turned to him with a frown. “Are you okay?” He asked, brows scrunching up in concern.

“Just feeling a bit off,” Harry admitted. “I-“

“Has Niall not healed you today?” Louis’ cut in, pushing Harry to lean him up against a wall so that he could inspect him. Louis held him in place as he brought a hand up towards Harry’s head to check for injuries. What he found evidently did not please him. “ _Harry.”_

Harry shrugged, averting his eyes. “Wanted to find you.”

“You can find me _after._ You need to let Niall heal you.” Louis snapped, brushing stray hair from where it was getting into Harry’s eyes. Louis sighed, his anger dissipating as he stepped away from Harry.

“Let’s get you healed then,” Louis said, wrapping an arm around Harry’s middle so that he wouldn’t stumble as much.

They made their way back to their classroom slowly, making sure that Eleanor was gone before pushing their way inside.

Louis supported his unsteady walk into their empty classroom, setting him down on one of the desks before moving away to light some of the candles that lined the walls and desks.

Once the candles were lit, Louis was back and taking Harry’s chin in his hands. “I really wish you’d let Niall help more often.”

Harry shrugged, “You do it better.”

Louis sighed, shaking his head as he brought out his wand to heal the cut under Harry’s eye.

Harry watched him closely, wondering how long it had taken him to heal his own wounds today. Louis put on a strong front for Harry more often than not, hiding away the worst of his pain while they were together. Harry hated the way Louis would put up a wall, as if Harry couldn’t see straight through it.

Louis went about healing Harry’s wounds without a word, working his way through the ones he knew were there and then finding others that other people had caused.

The tingles were covering his body now as more of the abrasions healed under Louis’ hands. It wasn’t long before Louis removed his hands and grabbed the salve that would heal the more superficial wounds.

Harry jumped at the cool feeling despite knowing it was coming. Louis ruffed his hair and continued with his work, refusing to look up at Harry for longer than brief moments.

Harry’s head started drooping, exhaustion taking over at last. His chin landed on the top of Louis’ head and he nuzzled in further, enjoying the moment before Louis inevitably drew away from him.

Louis didn’t move away though, simply continued his work as if there was no change and finished off with a clap of his hands. He moved away then, a small distance, not quite dislodging Harry’s position on his head.

“Getting comfortable there, Haz?” He asked, tilting his head up slightly.

Harry only mumbled in reply, dreading the moment that Louis inevitably drew away from him. It would happen any moment now and Harry would have to go back to pretending that they hadn’t spent the first few months of their friendship absolutely inseparable.

Sighing Louis shifted on his feet for a few moments before removing his head from under Harry’s and stepping back. Harry’s drooping eyelids opened slightly to see Louis standing in front of him, arms twitching at his sides.

“Lou?”

“Oh, fuck it.” He barely heard the whisper, but before he could ask about it Louis surged forward and wrapped his arms tightly around him.

“Oh.” Harry said in surprise, wrapping his own arms around Louis before he lost the chance.

Despite Harry’s expectations, Louis showed no signs of moving. Harry relaxed into the hug more and shifted so that they were laying down on the desk. He tightened his arms around Louis, just in case.

“This sucks.” Louis whispered.

“I know, Lou.”

Harry felt his eyelids begin to fall again, a calmness washing over him as he held on to Louis. Louis adjusted himself, drawing away for only a second before falling back onto Harry’s chest with a sigh as they both started to drift to sleep.

-

Louis woke to the loud slam of a door, footsteps and Harry jolting out of his own sleep.

“Shit,” Louis cursed. He rolled off of his comfortable position on top of Harry and to the ground with surprising grace. He then tugged insistently at Harry’s arm and dragged him off the desk so that they were both crouched behind it.

“Who the hell is coming down here at this time?” Louis hissed, pulling Harry and himself further back into the classroom as he prayed to Merlin that whoever down here wouldn’t come in and see them. He took out his wand, extinguishing all the candles that were lit with a single flick of his wand.

Harry shook his head, shifting to grab onto Louis’s free hand. The action surprised Louis enough to look away from the door and down at their now clasped hands. Harry’s hand was so much bigger than Louis’ own now that his looked absolutely tiny in comparison. Louis remembered the first time they’d held hands had been before Harry had his growth spurt, back when they’d first met. Louis flushed, trying not the think about it as he looked away and back towards the door. He couldn’t bring himself to pull away and put up the boundary he’d been trying so hard not to cross lately.

A door closed just to their right, startling Louis into tightening his grip on Harry’s hand. “Shit.”

Harry’s own wand came out and he held it in front of them in defense. What he was going to do if someone actually walked through the door Louis had no idea, but he drew up his own wand beside Harry’s either way.

They both held their breath as the door creaked open, Louis’ heart inside his throat.

Louis relaxed slightly when he saw that the person in the doorframe was their headmaster. Professor Dumbledore walked into the room a few steps before stopping, his clear blue eyes scanning the room before falling almost exactly where Harry and Louis were crouched.

Louis was about to stand up and reveal himself when another shadow crossed the door and a voice filled the classroom. “Professor Dumbledore, I really think Styles is behind this.”

Louis rolled his eyes, recognizing Eleanor’s voice. Despite “breaking up” with him last year, she hadn’t stopped hanging around him whenever she could and was always asking about where he went on the weekends. It took a lot of sneaking around for him to get away from her to go visit Harry.

“Professor, Louis hasn’t been seen in hours and _everyone_ knows that Styles hates him. He has to be behind this, Louis wouldn’t just go off on his own without telling anyone.”

That wasn’t true at all, but Louis bit his lip and tightened the hand holding Harry’s as he felt the boy shift.

“Styles never lets up, Sir. He’s constantly goading Louis into fights. I think something must have happened.”

“That’s quite enough, Ms. Calder.” Dumbledore said, leading the girl back out of the room and into the hallway. “I think Mr. Tomlinson is quite capable of taking care of himself and will turn up when he’s ready.”

“But, Sir!” Eleanor was protesting as Dumbledore closed the door behind them.

Louis let out a sigh of relief, lowering his wand and falling back onto his butt. His thighs ached from crouching for so long and could no longer hold him up.

Harry laughed quietly at him, still unsure of whether Dumbledore and Eleanor were really gone. He looked indecisive for a moment before falling back onto his own ass beside Louis.

“Budge up,” Louis growled, pushing Harry down so that his back was flat on the ground. Once in the right position, Louis moved a few things out of his way before settling himself onto Harry’s chest so that he could fall back to sleep.

“Pushy today.” Harry said softly, bringing a hand up to brush through Louis’ hair.

“Shut up, Haz.” Louis yawned, burrowing his nose into Harry’s neck. This was the most comfortable he’d been in ages despite the cold hard ground beneath them.

He’d purposefully been avoiding doing just this… letting his barriers down and giving into this desire to be close to Harry, but today he was too tired to push himself away.

“We should really consider bringing blankets and pillows in here.” Harry whispered.

“Too much effort,” Louis mumbled. “Too sleepy.”

“Yeah,” Harry sighed, his hand still brushing through Louis’ hair. “Me too.”

-

A few hours later Louis dragged himself up and off Harry’s chest. He looked down at the drowsy boy beneath him, trying to ignore how endearing Harry looked with bed-head. “I should probably get going,” He sighed, patting Harry’s hair down and into place.

Harry shook his head in protest but eased up on the hold he had on Louis’ hand. “Yeah, guess we should get back to our common rooms before someone notices.”

At this point, if anyone was going to notice their absence they would have already, but Louis doesn’t point this out as he drags himself to his feet. “Yeah, probably.”

Harry propped himself up on his elbows, looking very endearing and sleep ruffled. “Tomorrow?” He asked hopefully.

Louis inwardly flinched, knowing that he could never say no to Harry. “Yeah, tomorrow for sure, Haz.”

He grabbed his abandoned book bag and wand before placing a quick kiss to the top of Harry’s head. He was out of the classroom before Harry could respond.

He hadn’t planned on doing that and it was a momentary lapse in judgement. He’d simply been trying to avoid what he actually craved – kissing Harry properly.

Louis cursed himself for letting his guard down yesterday, it had allowed him to get careless. He had been avoiding this exact kind of situation for months now.

He tried to avoid dwelling on the thoughts as he made his way down through the dark corridors. He was careful to avoid any patrolling prefects or teachers and made it back to the Slytherin common room relatively quick. He whispered the password and snuck his way inside.

“Louis! Where have you been?”

Louis jumped in surprise, cursing as he turned to see Eleanor waiting for him on one of the couches.

“Nowhere,” He snapped, moving to make his way down to his dorm room.

“I’ve been worried about you Louis, I thought that Styles boy might have-“

“Eleanor!” Louis snapped, interrupting her before she could go any further. “I’m _fine._ ”

“Louis,” She said, “You need to be more careful. I don’t know who you’re running off with so often,”

Louis flinched.

“I hope she’s taking care of you because you’re not letting me get anywhere near you.”

Louis didn’t bother correcting her, pleased to have some excuse now.

“I’m fine, really.” Louis said. “Ha-Styles as nothing to do with it.”

Eleanor didn’t look convinced, “Lou, I’m just worried about you. If people think you’re acting strange you _know_ what will happen.”

“El-“

“You _do_ support him, don’t you?”

Louis felt the earth sweep out from under him. “What?” He managed to choke out.

Eleanor rolled her eyes, “The Dark Lord, Louis. Obviously.”

Yeah, obviously. Of course.

“Yes, why wouldn’t I?” Louis ground out through clenched teeth. “Are you questioning my loyalty?”

“No! No, Louis of course I’m not.” Eleanor rushed out, hands out in front of her to placate him. “Of course you’re loyal.”

Louis’ heart was pounding in his chest. If anyone in Slytherin got word of him not being loyal to the Dark Lord then it would be the death of him _and_ his family. End of story.

“Then leave me alone,” He said, leaving the common room without another glance towards Eleanor.

If Eleanor was questioning his loyalty then there was a risk that others were too. Heart in his throat, Louis thought about all the times he snuck away to see Harry. That would have to stop – he knew that eventually it would happen. Every time that they were around each other he was risking himself and his family, and even the safety of Harry. He’d have to cut himself off, no matter how much he didn’t want to.

Louis rubbed at his chest, thinking of how hurt Harry would be when Louis started to avoid him even more – especially after how touchy Louis had been earlier tonight.

Louis desperately hoped that Harry would understand, but had a deep feeling in his gut saying that Harry wouldn’t understand at all.

Crawling into bed with a heavy heart, Louis desperately wanted to be back with Harry in the safety of their classroom. He wanted to be back beside the fire with his head on top of Harry’s chest where he could hear the boy’s heart beat soothingly as they drifted off to sleep together.

Louis distantly wondered if he’d ever allow himself that comfort again.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading - Please tell me what you think so far with a comment if you'd like. Kudos are always appreciated and calm the insecure beast inside me.
> 
> I have no idea how many parts or chapters this will be anymore.


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